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My summit has been great with LIPO.

Got my Summit over a month ago running on 6 TRaxxas NiMh batteries.
Initially, I didn't want to use LIPO batts since i didn't want to spend too much time taking care of them.

Well, not really impressed with the performance of the car with NiMh batts, last Monday, I got my 4 lipos
30C 2s (I also had to buy the Sentry Firesafe to store them at home) and lipo dual charger and it has been great fun.
Alot of wheelies, and forward flip until the diff stripped. Well, while waiting for the parts to come, i do backward flips, and it does flip very well on the dual lipo batts in parallel.
Now, my 6 NiMh batts will collecting dust

I'll keep the NiMh batts for running in wet condition since it's supposed to be more sealed.
I never run any batts in series since i don't know what kind of MOSFET transistors were used in the ESC. Traxxas spec says we can run up to 3s lipo, on some other places, theyalso say that it can be run with 2 7.2 batts in series?!
So what exactly the max Voltage input requirement for this VXL-3m ESC?

Moreover, I am mostly into jumping/flipping so i need more amps, not voltages.

Fair enough! I just don't want my 5 year old messing with lipo battery & charger. He has the charging, install & removal of parallel NiMh all figured out. I guess I will get two 2s to run in parallel as well and just take care of all the charging and changing the ESC for him when I swap out batteries.

Assuming all specs are the same, is it worth getting the Traxxas lipo vs. some of the less expensive ******* or ***** I see on ebay? Any better prices other than ebay?

I have a 5 yr-old girl, and a 3 yr old boy, but I don't allow them, ever, to touch the charger or any outlets for that matter, let alone charging a lipo battery. (and this is one of the main reasons i want to stay with small rc cars)

Well, however, my 3 yr old boy managed to destroy the woofers in my High Resolution studio monitors by poking dust cover on the woofers with his toys

Fair enough! I just don't want my 5 year old messing with lipo battery & charger. He has the charging, install & removal of parallel NiMh all figured out. I guess I will get two 2s to run in parallel as well and just take care of all the charging and changing the ESC for him when I swap out batteries.

Assuming all specs are the same, is it worth getting the Traxxas lipo vs. some of the less expensive ******* or ***** I see on ebay? Any better prices other than ebay?

My son runs two Lifepo4 Maxamps 9.9v 1050 packs in parallel. They run great and you can charge them quickly, run them down, and get extreme speed without the explosion/fire hazards of Lipo. Great for a 10yro.

How do you guys keep this thing from spinning out? If the wheels aren't perfectly straight, you can't accelerate at all without it flipping. I'm just using 1 2s lipo so nothing fancy. I'm coming from an mini erevo some maybe I'm just spoiled.

I use Onyx 245 -$120 shipped. It is a dual charger with all the goodies included (power supply built-in, traxxas/Dean connectors, Balance boards) and ready to charge. It can take either AC or DC powers. You can charge 2 batteries at the same time (NiMh, Lipo, and others). It can provide 80 Watts for the 2 chargers, so it charges a little slower than other high end ones, but it's easy and simple to operate.

slasher9, I am more interested in flippings, wheelies than speed running, so the more out-of-control, the more fun for me.
If you want more speed with higher voltage inputs, you can change gears (but with the caution of burning the esc or motor)